APRIL 30, 2013 : TUESDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK OF EASTER

Tuesday of Fifth Week of Easter

Lectionary: 286

Reading 1 ACTS 14:19-28

In those days, some Jews from Antioch and Iconium

arrived and won over the crowds.

They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city,

supposing that he was dead.

But when the disciples gathered around him,

he got up and entered the city.

On the following day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.

After they had proclaimed the good news to that city

and made a considerable number of disciples,

they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch.

They strengthened the spirits of the disciples

and exhorted them to persevere in the faith, saying,

“It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships

to enter the Kingdom of God.”

They appointed presbyters for them in each Church and,

with prayer and fasting, commended them to the Lord

in whom they had put their faith.

Then they traveled through Pisidia and reached Pamphylia.

After proclaiming the word at Perga they went down to Attalia.

From there they sailed to Antioch,

where they had been commended to the grace of God

for the work they had now accomplished.

And when they arrived, they called the Church together

and reported what God had done with them

and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.

Then they spent no little time with the disciples.

Responsorial Psalm PS 145:10-11, 12-13AB, 21

R. (see 12) Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

or:

R. Alleluia.

Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD,

and let your faithful ones bless you.

Let them discourse of the glory of your kingdom

and speak of your might.

R. Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

or:

R. Alleluia.

Making known to men your might

and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

Your kingdom is a kingdom for all ages,

and your dominion endures through all generations.

R. Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

or:

R. Alleluia.

May my mouth speak the praise of the LORD,

and may all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.

R. Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

or:

R. Alleluia.

Gospel JN 14:27-31A

Jesus said to his disciples:

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.

Not as the world gives do I give it to you.

Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.

You heard me tell you,

‘I am going away and I will come back to you.’

If you loved me,

you would rejoice that I am going to the Father;

for the Father is greater than I.

And now I have told you this before it happens,

so that when it happens you may believe.

I will no longer speak much with you,

for the ruler of the world is coming.

He has no power over me,

but the world must know that I love the Father

and that I do just as the Father has commanded me.”

www.usccb.org

Meditation: “My peace I give to you”

Do you know the peace which passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7)? In his farewell discourse Jesus grants peace as his gift to his disciples. What kind of peace does he offer? The peace of Christ is more than the absence of trouble. It includes everything which makes for our highest good. The world's approach to peace is avoidance of trouble and a refusal to face unpleasant things. Jesus offers the peace which conquers our fears and anxieties. Nothing can take us from the peace and joy of Jesus Christ. No sorrow or grief, no danger, no suffering can make it less. Jesus also speaks of his destination and ultimate triumph over the powers of evil in the world. In the eyes of the world the cross stood for shame, humiliation, and defeat. Jesus went to the cross knowing that it would lead to victory over the powers of sin and of Satan. Jesus also knew that he would return to his Father in glory. The cross brought glory to Jesus and to the Father and it is our way to glory as well. In the Cross of Christ we find true peace and reconciliation with God. Do you live in the peace of Jesus Christ?

"Lord Jesus, may your peace be always with me. May no circumstance, trouble, or vexation rob me of the peace which passes all understanding. You, alone, O Lord, are my Peace. May I always reside in that peace by believing your word and by doing your will.”

www.dailyscripture.net

Danger of Slavery

Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Easter

Father Patrick Langan, LC John 14: 27-31a Jesus said to his disciples: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. You heard me tell you, ´I am going away and I will come back to you.´ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe. I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over me, but the world must know that I love the Father and that I do just as the Father has commanded me." Introductory Prayer: Lord, thank you for granting me the opportunity to be with you. There are things in life, Lord, that attract me, but you attract me more. I hope in you, and I love you. Maybe I don’t really understand what it means to love, and maybe I don’t love the way I should, but I do love you. Petition: Lord, help me always to remember who I am, where I come from, and where I am going. 1. Activism: In today´s culture, many people believe, almost religiously, that what they do will eventually make them someone. They believe that from doing flows being, since their activity defines them. This makes it easy for them to be exploited. In nineteenth century America, a slave was often not told his birthday, so he could never really know who he was. He was just made to work. This same temptation exists today. Many people work such long hours — some as a means of escape from difficulties or responsibilities at home; others for the satisfaction they feel seeing a job completed; still others, just to earn more money and to be able to afford a more comfortable life. However, these are all manifestations of the same slavery. 2. My True Identity: With his example, however, Christ shows us a different way of life, a way that goes against the current. First I have to be. Then my doing will flow from my being. Christ says again and again: I am the Son of my Father. Now I will act accordingly. When Moses asked God of the burning bush who he was, he said, “I AM who AM.” Who am I? What defines me is my relationship to God. Just imagine this: I have the privilege of being a child of God! God has loved me so much that he has adopted me as his child! This is something worthwhile. This is who I really am, and I should act accordingly, as Christ taught me. 3. True Peace: Christ´s great peace comes as a consequence of meditating on and living out who I really am. When I meditate, I discover that I am God’s creature. Suddenly, I find the strength to face reality. Others will be unable to exploit me, and I will stop exploiting others because I am – and they are – children of God. My dignity derives from this fundamental truth: I was created in God’s image and likeness. I came from God, and he is inviting me to return to him and be happy with him for all eternity. Conversation with Christ: Lord, I have the bad habit of focusing on my doing. That is why I am always anxious. I want to be like you, Lord, seeing first who I am and letting my activity flow from that. This will bring me peace. However, Lord, I need your grace. Help me to live as a true son or daughter. Resolution: Today, I will do two kind acts to someone who is troubled in order to help them experience God’s love for them.

www.regnumchristi.org

TUESDAY, APRIL 30

Easter Weekday
JOHN 14:27-31a
(Acts 14:19-28; Psalm 145)
KEY VERSE: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you" (v 27).
READING: In anticipation of his passion and death, Jesus entreated his disciples to remain steadfast when they faced persecution and suffering. The enemy, though close at hand, held no power over Jesuswhose farewell gift to his disciples was "peace" (Hebrew, shalom). The peace that Jesus imparted was not to be understood in the worldly sense as a lack of tension and a cessation of hostilities. Nor could it be achieved by arbitration and treaties. Jesus' peace would be the first gift of the resurrection, the indwelling Spirit. When Jesus ascended to his Father, the peace of the Spirit would sustain his disciples in his absence, even in the midst of distress and fear. In their fearless proclamation of the gospel, the world would know that they were obedient to the Father's will despite suffering and death.
REFLECTING: In what ways do I gift others with the peace of Christ?
PRAYING: Risen Lord, grant your peace to this troubled world.

Optional Memorial of Pius V, pope

Pius V, given name Michele Ghislieri, was born on the 17th of January 1504, in the Milanese. At the age of fourteen he became a Dominican monk. Upon his ascension to the papacy in1566, Pius did not cease to be a monk: his ascetic mode of life and his devotions suffered no interruption. Pius V faced the task of enacting the reforms of the Council of Trent. Without delay decrees and ordinances were issued with astonishing rapidity: the papal court was rid of everything unseemly, and became a model of sobriety. New seminaries were opened, a new catechism appeared in 1566, followed by an improved breviary (1568), and an improved missal (1570). The use of indulgences and dispensations was restricted, and the penitential system reformed. Foundations were established to spread the faith and preserve the doctrine of the Church. Pius spent much time personally working with the needy. He built hospitals and used the papal treasury to care for the poor. At the time of his death in 1572 he was working on a Christian-European alliance to break the power of the Islamic states. Pius V was canonized by Pope Clement XI in 1712.

www.daily-word-of-life.com

Your friends tell the glory of your kingship, Lord

Grant your people constancy in faith and hope that we may never doubt the promises we have learned from you.

The example of Paul’s faith and hope was that, after having been stoned so that he was thought to be dead, he was able to travel with Barnabas the next day to preach in Derbe! And then to travel back to Antioch to put ‘fresh heart into the disciples’ and to encourage them to persevere in the faith.

Paul did not doubt that what Jesus promised would be fulfilled. Would that we were so constant in our faith and hope! 

Jesus handed down to us his own peace. Jesus tells us: ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.’ Paul encourages the disciples: ‘We all have to experience many hardships before we enter the kingdom of God.’ 

Let us trust in God, not that we will not be sent hardships, but that we will endure in faith and hope when we experience these hardships

www.churchresources.info

April 30
St. Pius V
(1504-1572)

This is the pope whose job was to implement the historic Council of Trent. If we think popes had difficulties in implementing Vatican Council II, Pius V had even greater problems after Trent than four centuries earlier.

During his papacy (1566-1572), Pius V was faced with the almost overwhelming responsibility of getting a shattered and scattered Church back on its feet. The family of God had been shaken by corruption, by the Reformation, by the constant threat of Turkish invasion and by the bloody bickering of the young nation-states. In 1545 a previous pope convened the Council of Trent in an attempt to deal with all these pressing problems. Off and on over 18 years, the Church Fathers discussed, condemned, affirmed and decided upon a course of action. The Council closed in 1563.
Pius V was elected in 1566 and was charged with the task of implementing the sweeping reforms called for by the Council. He ordered the founding of seminaries for the proper training of priests. He published a new missal, a new breviary, a new catechism and established the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD) classes for the young. Pius zealously enforced legislation against abuses in the Church. He patiently served the sick and the poor by building hospitals, providing food for the hungry and giving money customarily used for the papal banquets to poor Roman converts. His decision to keep wearing his Dominican habit led to the custom of the pope wearing a white cassock.
In striving to reform both Church and state, Pius encountered vehement opposition from England's Queen Elizabeth and the Roman Emperor Maximilian II. Problems in France and in the Netherlands also hindered Pius's hopes for a Europe united against the Turks. Only at the last minute was he able to organize a fleet which won a decisive victory in the Gulf of Lepanto, off Greece, on October 7, 1571.
Pius's ceaseless papal quest for a renewal of the Church was grounded in his personal life as a Dominican friar. He spent long hours with his God in prayer, fasted rigorously, deprived himself of many customary papal luxuries and faithfully observed the spirit of the Dominican Rule that he had professed.

Comment:

In their personal lives and in their actions as popes, Pius V and Venerable Paul VI (d. 1978) both led the family of God in the process of interiorizing and implementing the new birth called for by the Spirit in major Councils. With zeal and patience, Pius and Paul pursued the changes urged by the Council Fathers. Like Pius and Paul, we too are called to constant change of heart and life.

Quote:

"In this universal assembly, in this privileged point of time and space, there converge together the past, the present, and the future. The past: for here, gathered in this spot, we have the Church of Christ with her tradition, her history, her councils, her doctors, her saints; the present: we are taking leave of one another to go out toward the world of today with its miseries, its sufferings, its sins, but also with its prodigious accomplishments, values, and virtues; and the future is here in the urgent appeal of the peoples of the world for more justice, in their will for peace, in their conscious or unconscious thirst for a higher life, that life precisely which the Church of Christ can give and wishes to give to them" (from Pope Paul's closing message at Vatican II).

www.americancatholic,org

LECTIO: JOHN 14,27-31A

Lectio: 

 Tuesday, April 30, 2013  

Easter Time

1) Opening prayer

Lord our God, almighty Father,
you have absolute power over the world,
and yet you respect the freedom of people,
even of those who persecute your faithful.
Make us realize that our faith
does not protect us against the evil
which people bring upon one another,
but that you want us to build according to your plan
a kingdom of justice, love and peace.
Help our faith to stand the test
when our meager efforts fail.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord.

2) Gospel Reading - John 14,27-31a

Jesus said to his disciples: "Peace I bequeath to you, my own peace I give you, a peace which the world cannot give, this is my gift to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.
You heard me say: I am going away and shall return. If you loved me you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. I have told you this now, before it happens, so that when it does happen you may believe.
I shall not talk to you much longer, because the prince of this world is on his way. He has no power over me, but the world must recognise that I love the Father and that I act just as the Father commanded. Come now, let us go.

3) Reflection

• Here in John 14, 27, begins the farewell of Jesus and at the end of chapter 14, he ends the conversation saying: “Come now, let us go!” (Jn 14, 31). But instead of leaving the room, Jesus continues to speak in three other chapters: 15, 16, and 17. If we read these three chapters, at the beginning of chapter 18, we see the following phrase: “After he had said all this, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron valley where there was a garden into which he went with his disciples“ (Jn 18, 1). In Jn 18, 1, there is the continuation of Jn 14, 31. The Gospel of John is like a beautiful building constructed slowly, rock on top of rock, brick upon brick. Here and there, there are signs of rearrangement or adaptation. In some way, all the texts, all the bricks, form part of the building and are the Word of God for us.
• John 14, 27: The gift of Peace. Jesus communicates his peace to the disciples. The same peace will be given after the Resurrection (Jn 20, 29). This peace is an expression of the manifestation of the Father, as Jesus had said before (Jn 14, 21). The peace of Jesus is the source of joy that he communicates to us (Jn 15, 11; 1620.22.24; 17, 13). It is a peace which is different from the peace which the world gives us, diverse from Pax Romana. At the end of the first century the Pax Romana was maintained by force and violent repression against the rebellious movements. Pax Romana guaranteed the institutionalized inequality between the Roman citizens and the slaves. This is not the peace of the Kingdom of God. The Peace which Jesus communicates is what in the Old Testament is called Shalom. It is the complete organization of the whole life around the values of justice, of fraternity and of equality.
• John 14, 28-29: The reason why Jesus returns to the Father. Jesus returns to the Father in order to be able to return immediately. He will say to Mary Magdalene: “Do not cling to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father” (Jn 20, 17). Going up to the Father, he will return through the Holy Spirit that he will send (cfr. Jn 20, 22). Without the return toward the Father he will not be able to stay with us through the Spirit.
• John 14, 30-31a: That the world may know that I love the Father. Jesus had ended the last conversation with the disciples. The prince of this world wanted to impose himself on the destiny of Jesus. Jesus will die. In reality, the Prince, the Tempter, the Devil, has no power over Jesus. The world will know that Jesus loves the Father. This is the great witness of Jesus which can impel the world to believe in him. In the announcement of the Good News it is not a question of diffusing a doctrine, or of imposing a Canon Law, or of uniting all in one organization. It is a question; above all, of living and radiating what the human being desires and has deeper in his heart: love. Without this, the doctrine, the Law, the celebration will be only a wig on a bald head.
• John 14, 31b: Come now, let us go. These are the last words of Jesus, the expression of his decision to be obedient to the Father and of revealing his love. In the Eucharist, at the moment of the consecration, in some countries, it is said: “On the day before his passion, voluntarily accepted”. In another place Jesus says: “This is why the Father loves me: because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me: I lay it down of my own free will, and as I have power to lay it down so I have power to take it up again, and this is the command that I have received from my Father.” (Jn 10, 17-18).

4) Personal questions

• Jesus says: “I give you my peace”. How do I contribute to the construction of peace in my family and in my community?
• Looking into the mirror of the obedience of Jesus toward the Father, on which point could I improve my obedience to the Father?

5) Concluding Prayer

All your creatures shall thank you, Yahweh,
and your faithful shall bless you.
They shall speak of the glory of your kingship
and tell of your might. (Ps 145,10-11)

www.ocarm.org